Dig It - 8/27/26

The Supernatural Manifested

I collected my first kachina when I was 15 at the Hopi village of Old Oriabi. We'd had dinner the night before with Don Talayesva, the Sun Chief, and I was imbued with the Hopi vibe. I bought it from a Hopi boy who was younger than me. It was an owl kachina and one of his first carvings. This must have been back in 1969. I was immediately attracted to Kachina carvings. Why should a white Presbyterian kid from the suburbs of New Jersey be so captivated by these fascinating Hopi carvings? Well, 57 years later I have come up with a theory. Kachina carvings capture and manifest images of the supernatural world. Even though the kachina carvings are not of my culture or “world view,” I knew they were special and were images of an unseen world. 

This late 19th-century kachina, or Katsina, is a Polik Mana, or Butterfly Maiden, and was probably made for museums or Euro-American collectors. The sheer number of kachina carvings made for outside consumption in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was vast and shows that I was not the only one attracted to these supernatural, otherworldly images. The Polik Manas represent rain and female fertility; note the rainbow around her mouth. Recent theories suggest that the elaborate tablitas or headdresses may have originated with Mexican Indians who traveled north with the Conquistadors. I cannot recall any pre-Hispanic images of kachinas with tablitas, but the topic is open for further debate. Well, Fellow Seekers, this is a peak behind the Veil. -Lonesome